10 Preference Points for Colorado Help?

tmskislc · Nov 14, 2006

After 2006, I currently have 10 preference points for Colorado antelope. I have been putting in for points for a several years now and plan on finally hunting in 2007. I am looking for information on where to put in for a quality hunt with at least an opportunity of having a boone and crocket class buck in the unit I am hunting. I have been looking at units 2 and 10. Looks like 2 would still take a while, but most other units look to be almost guaranteed in the state. Any help on a unit that would be worth cashing in on the 10 years of points for a quality hunt would be greatly appreciated.

I also have 7 points for deer and any suggestions for deer units with this many points would also be appreciated.

RamDreamer · Nov 16, 2006

An opportunity for a B&C class pronghorn in Colorado? Man, that's asking a LOT. The major criteria for where to apply in Colorado is most often driven by where you can get access. The eastern plains are almost all private land.

I'm sitting on 10 points myself, as a resident.

Good luck.

tmskislc · Nov 16, 2006

I have not checked on Colorado too much in regards to Boone and Crocket bucks. I just assumed that there has to be some units in the state that offers bucks of this class since it takes so many points to draw some of the units. I have taken Boone & Crocket class antelope in SW Wyoming in areas where people told me there were none. I also took a friend there and he shot a goat that missed the book by 1 point. I saw that unit 10 and 201 took a lot of points to draw so I was assuming that these units must have bigger goats than the others. I don't know why else people would want the tags there so much Maybe because they are close to Utah and Wyoming, who knows. Guess that is why I am asking. After so many years, I don't want to waste the points. In the post above, I did mean to say unit 201, not unit 2. It seems that 201 takes a lot of points for everything, deer, elk, and antelope. Will take me 11 more years to draw an elk tag in that unit. Tough odds. But it took me 23 years to draw an elk tag in my home state of Utah so I guess in perspective it isn't so bad and the wait was definately worth it this year.

Thanks for the comments and happy hunting to you!

Phantom Hunter · Nov 16, 2006

tmskislc,

Good post. I am just behind you in antelope points and am trying to decide if I am going to burn them or wait on unit 201. If I burn them I have to decide where I can get access on some BLM or Nat Grassland. Hope someone post up some ideas for us.

As for mulies we just used our 8 deer points on a 2nd season mulie hunt in unit 61. We killed deer but not the quality we know is there. Weather messed up our game plan. One of the guys missed his chance at a true wallhanger on opening morning and never saw the buck again. Have also heard of some good bucks coming out of the country around Gunnison.

Good luck
Phantom Hunter

jims · Dec 5, 2006

I agree with several of the posts above. Colo is not known for B&C bucks! I would definitely take a look at the B&C books as mentioned above and it will open your eyes. Obviously it takes gentetics, feed, few tags, age, etc to produce a B&C antelope just like deer or any other species. Some areas in Colo are known to produce better bucks than others but there are only a handful of bucks that ever go into B&C. If you get a 78+ buck in Colo you are doing extremely well!

I was up in 2 and 201 several times this summer and saw very few antelope in 2. I saw more antelope in 201 but didn't see any that were over 13" and would score over about 75. I didn't spend much time looking and I'm sure there were likely bigger bucks around. 2 is a gigantic unit and tag numbers have been sliced because antelope numbers have plummeted. In fact, I have actually seen more wild horses in 2 than antelope in recent years! Historically 2 produced some whoppers but you are going to have to cover lots and lots of country to find them. I would expect as many B&C bucks come out of 2, 10, or 201 as anywhere in the state...but you are going to have to do a lot of searching.

There are other scattered units across the state that produce nice bucks...some have a lot more private land than others and that may be one reason they are easier to draw tags. Just because it takes a lot of pts to draw doesn't mean a unit has many 78+" antelope. You can blame Garth and others for how many pts it takes to draw!

tmskislc · Dec 5, 2006

Thanks for the comments. It is good to know not to spend all day looking for a huge goat and to focus more on taking a respectable animal. Making the book is not a huge deal to me, but I just like to know I have the potential where I am hunting. A lot of things need to come into play to ever get an animal that large, but the fun is knowing that there is a chance. I enjoy the challenge of taking an animal that has lived long enough to be that large.